Pakistan vows to root out terrorists
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-02 12:28

President Gen Pervez Musharraf vowed to root out terrorists after a suicide bomb attack at a Shiite mosque in eastern Pakistan killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 50.

The attacker strode into the Zainabia mosque in the centre of Sialkot during Friday prayers carrying the bomb in a briefcase, police said.

Shortly after the blast, experts defused a second bomb outside the mosque, where hundreds of angry Shiites had gathered to protest the attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombing. But a prominent Shiite cleric speculated it was in retaliation for the killing by security forces of a Sunni militant and top al-Qaida operative accused in the beheading of American reporter Daniel Pearl.

Musharraf, a key US ally, said the bombing showed ”terrorists have no religion and are enemies of mankind.” He renewed his government’s commitment to root them out.

In the three years since Musharraf threw Pakistan’s support behind the US-led war on terror, Islamic militants, often linked to al-Qaida, have launched repeated attacks against the government and Western targets.

Violence has also been directed at Shiites, who make up about 20% of Pakistan’s 150 million people, most of whom are Sunni Muslims. As in Iraq, where Sunni militants are suspected of carrying out provocative attacks on Shiites, sectarian tensions linger close to surface in Pakistan.

The blast left a crater in the mosque and damaged its walls.

Witnesses said that shortly before the blast a man entered the mosque carrying a briefcase that then exploded, Sialkot police chief Nisar Ahmed said.

Police said at least 25 people were killed and more than 50 wounded. A doctor at Allama Iqbal Hospital said some of the injured were in serious condition.

Shortly after the explosion, a bomb disposal squad found another briefcase bomb outside the mosque, said Mohammed Nazir, the squad’s chief.

Hundreds of angry Shiites youths went on a rampage after the attack. Police said the protesters damaged part of the hospital and dozens of vehicles and ransacked shops. Troops restored ordered.

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